Fall River housing issues head to council chambers

Monday

Jul 31, 2017 at 5:03 PMJul 31, 2017 at 5:06 PM

Jo C. Goode Herald News Staff Reporter @jgoodeHN

FALL RIVER — It’s been two years since the City Council directed corporation counsel to take a deep look into the city’s ordinances that address empty, blighted and abandoned properties and Tuesday the Committee on Ordinances and Legislation will take its first public look into what changes need to be made.

The ordinance committee meets at 5:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers at One Government Center.

Last summer Corporation Counsel Joseph Macy delivered a draft of a 24-page study conducted with the help of interns from the University of Massachusetts School of Law at Dartmouth that included a number of suggested amendments to existing ordinances such as assigning specific dollar amounts for fines to owners whose property is deemed blighted.

“Government doesn’t move as quickly as I’d like, but these are really important ordinances,” said City Councilor Stephen Long, a vocal proponent to clean up the city housing ordinances.

In September 2015, Long filed a resolution directing Macy to conduct the review. In July, Macy presented the draft report to the ordinance committee and the matter was tabled several times, most recently in March.

Long, who sits on the ordinance committee, said he wants to see a “good deliberation” and for the committee and council take time to thoroughly review any changes.

The committee’s review of the housing ordinances is coinciding with the announcement expected by Mayor Jasiel Correia II’s housing initiative that his administration has been working on for the last six months.

In addition to working with local non-profits that work on housing issues, Correia said last week that he’s also worked with a group led by Rep. Carole Fiola.

She initiated a $50,000 study completed by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Public Policy Center as a blueprint for new housing policies in the city.

Macy said one of the suggestions his survey identifies is the city create a municipal hearings officer to deal with homeowners facing housing related violations who want to appeal the fines.

It’s by state law but the city has used housing court or district court for such hearings.

“It’s a state law and we have to adopt it,” Macy said.

He would also recommend that the fire department and its fire inspectors have a similar ability to conduct hearings.

City Councilor Cliff Ponte, who chairs the ordinance committee, communicated by text message that “there are some inefficiencies with respect to our current ordinances in place.”